Baile En La Calle Offers Art, Dance and Solidarity

Choreographers and muralists invested hours of work to make Sunday’s Baile en la Calle event a success that engaged a small crowd in dancing, art, and social justice.

“We were here until the sun went down to finish,” Tirso Gonzalez Araiza told the crowd gathered at Ralph Maradiaga Children’s Park.

Araiza was the lead artist on “El Juego de la Resistencia,” (the Resistance Game) the freshly restored mural that was unveiled at the park yesterday.

Brava Theater collaborated with the Calle 24 Latino Cultural District Arts Consortium to arrange for the third annual Baile en la Calle, featuring a mural tour in which dancers performed choreography that complimented each mural.

“We brought together different entities of arts and culture,” Calle 24 President Erick Arguello said. “We brought in dance, different types of music, like hip hop. It really brought the whole community together, to educate, to talk about the murals, to display our arts and culture and get people out to experience what the Mission’s culture is about.”

Epiphany Productions Sonic Dance kicked off the tour at 24th and Florida, performing a work choreographed by Kim Epifano in front of a mural by Jonathan Matas. The group’s creative use of space set the stage for the rest of the performances.

Although the mood was festive and celebratory, the event was not without deeper social commentary. Cuicacalli Dance Company, concluded their performance with their fists raised in solidarity with protestors in Baltimore. The mural they performed in front of, “500 Años de Resistencia,” was itself an homage to…